WBB Recap: Wisconsin holds on for close win against feisty Flames
That Serah Williams sure is good at basketball, huh?
Another game, another Wisconsin Badgers victory. UW welcomed the UIC Flames to the Kohl Center on Thursday night and emerged from the muck with their fourth win of the season. It wasn’t pretty, but it was a win and that’s all that matters in the end.
Final Score
Wisconsin Badgers (4-1 overall, 0-0 Big Ten): 61
UIC Flames (0-3 overall, 0-0 Missouri Valley): 57
Four Factors
eFG%: 48.1
Turnover%: 26.5
Off. Rebound%: 17.9
FTA/FGA: 22.6
Key Stats
FG%: 47.2 (25-of-53)
Opp. FG%: 37.3 (22-of-59)
3P%: 14.3 (1-of-7)
Opp. 3P%: 30.0 (3-of-10)
FT%: 83.3 (10-of-12)
Opp. FT%: 55.6 (10-of-18)
Points Per Possession: 0.897
Opponent Points Per Possession: 0.826
Rebounds: 35 (five offensive)
Opponent Rebounds: 32 (nine offensive)
Turnovers: 18
Forced Turnovers: 14
Team Leaders
Ronnie Porter: eight points (3-of-10 FG, 0-of-2 3P), two rebounds, five assists, -8
Serah Williams: 20 points (8-of-14 FG), 14 rebounds (two offensive), one assist, two blocks, three steals, +7
Halle Douglass: two points (1-of-4 FG), three rebounds, five assists, one block, one steal, +1
Carter McCray: 10 points (5-of-5 FG), seven rebounds (one offensive), one steal, -7
UIC Team Leaders
Krystyna Ellew: 18 points (6-of-6 FG, 2-of-2 3P), one rebound, one assist, two steals, +1
Jaida McCloud: 12 points (6-of-9 FG), seven rebounds (three offensive), one block, one steal, -5
Three-ish Thoughts
This wasn’t a pleasant game to watch, unless you’re into choppy offense and poor shooting from beyond the arc, but that does mean that the defenses probably played well. And, wouldn’t you know it, the Wisconsin D in the first half was outstanding.
The Badgers held the Flames to 6-of-28 (21.4%) from the field and 1-of-6 (16.7%) from three while forcing nine turnovers. In the second quarter, UIC only managed to score seven points which tied for the 10th fewest Wisconsin has ever allowed in one quarter.
Serah Williams was patrolling the paint (two blocks, one steal) well in the first half and Carter McCray (one steal) and Halle Douglass (one block) were also effective in the post.On the other side of the court, UIC struggled to protect the paint and the duo of Williams and McCray had a first half field day down low. The Flames tallest rotation player is 6-foot-2 and she is not what I’d call a rim protector. The Badgers scored 25 points in the first half and 22 of those were in the paint.
Williams and McCray each had 10, Ronnie Porter had a driving layup, and then Tess Myers had to go and ruin everything by making a three-pointer. UW ended the game with 48 of their 61 points coming in the paint.
Wisconsin had been shooting just under 21 three-pointers per game entering last night, but only took seven against the Flames. Credit the Badgers scouting report which must’ve said they’d find success inside. It’s cool to see a team alter their strategy based on what the other team is going to give them.Serah Williams, who recorded her 25th career double-double with 20 points and 14 boards, also passed the 1,000 career points barrier on Thursday night. According to UW, Williams reached the milestone in 66 games, tied for the third fastest in program history. With 1,016 points she is 28th on the all-time Wisconsin scoring leaderboard. For reference, the leading scorer in UW (men’s or women’s) history (Jolene Anderson, 2004-08) ended her career with 2,312 points in 123 games.
Courtesy @BadgerWBB on Instagram I’ve been saying this for a couple of years now, but it is worth repeating: Natalie Leuzinger makes winning plays. In a tight game like this one, little things can make a big difference and there was one particular play by Leuzinger that I want to highlight.
With just over a minute left in the third quarter UIC cut UW’s lead down to five points again and had Williams trapped along the baseline with the shot-clock under 10 seconds. Instead of standing still and waiting for something to happen, Leuzinger took advantage of her defender “ball watching” and cut towards the basket from the opposite wing. Williams, to her credit, placed a perfect bounce pass in Leuzinger’s hand and the veteran guard scored an easy deuce.
While Leuzinger struggled with turnovers (five) and fouls (four) on the night, she was able to make a big difference on offense due to her high basketball IQ. This doesn’t really matter, because I like to see all Badgers do well, but it’s always fun when a local kid makes a difference for the local team.Krystyna Ellew’s return to Madison was a rousing, personal, success. The senior guard saw her minutes greatly decrease as a sophomore and is now in her second season at UIC after transferring.
She didn’t start for the Flames, but was by far their most effective offensive player on the game. She ended up with 18 points on perfect shooting (6-of-6 FG, 2-of-2 3P) while chipping in with a rebound, an assist, and two steals. Ellew was also one of only two Flames’ players that had a positive plus/minus for the game.
Kind of a perfect scenario for UW fans here: a former player does well AND the Badgers still get the win.Shoutout to Williams for being aggressive all night and not putting up with any of UIC’s shit during this game. It did result in a technical foul in the fourth quarter, which was offsetting with Kristian Young, but I don’t really care about that. I love that she’s showing more fire on the court this year.
After struggling mightily in the first couple of games from the free throw line, the Badgers went 10-of-12 from the charity stripe on Thursday night and, quite frankly, needed all 10 of ‘em.
Final Thought
As mentioned above, this wasn’t an aesthetically pleasing game from either team, but those games will happen during a long season. What makes me think we might remember this game at the end of the year is that…Wisconsin loses this game the last two years. But this year they didn’t.
They only made one three-pointer, turned the ball over a season-high 18 times, and struggled to generate offense consistently resulting in scoring droughts. Despite that, they were locked in on defense all game and, when it came down to the end of the fourth quarter they just made plays to win.
Williams stealing the ball and then taking it coast-to-coast for a layup? That’s a winning play. Leuzinger calmly sinking two free throws with 10 seconds left in a four-point game? Winning play. Playing tough team defense to force UIC to use up seven of 10 seconds on one possession when they needed two possessions to tie? Big time winning play.
The Badgers have lost a lot under Marisa Moseley (and, well, pretty much every coach they’ve had) but they’ve also steadily gotten better. While I was watching this game I had a nagging feeling in the back of my head during the third quarter that Wisconsin was going to blow a lead against an inferior team, because that’s what they used to do.
This year’s team does not do that and I think the fans should join the players in believing it.
Next Game: Saturday, Nov. 23; vs. Omaha; 1:00 p.m. CT; B1G+; Kohl Center